Start of bootcamp...

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Hi racreel.

Good movement. I like the idea of using the tail for motion and not just a reaction. I would see it better with the tail touching ground, but that is just my opinion. Actually, the only exercise in wich i did not participate in the bootcamp last year was the tail exercise, because i tought it was too hard at that time.
The one thing that did not work for me in your clip is the contact with the bigger ball, because the orange ball looks more like it is running away then pushed away. I think it comes from the ball squashing too uniformly(is that a word?) and too diagonal. It might look better if the ball leaves ground later, after it has regained shape.

I like your use of color and camera.

Michel

Hmmm... probably not what Alonso had in mind when he made this exercise... but interesting none-the-less.

The first thing I notice about the tail is that it is straightening out in mid "wag". It really oughta continue curved all the way thru the stroke then progressively reverse after the base changes direction.

Also on some of the ball bounces, I see it leaving the ground while it is still compressed. The first frame after leaving the ground will be more effective in a stretch pose.

The bounce arcs seem to be doing well, the last one may be a bit flat on top.

Thanks for doing the Boot camp!

Here's another pass at it, I added some acceleration to the start and some tweaks per your suggestions.

You're right, this is probably different from what Alonso had in mind, but I thought I would sort of combine some of them and build toward a sequence that includes several of the exercises.

Thanks for the input,
Richard

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I like the acceleration I have been wondering about how to attech this? The tail is very nice now it does not straighten in the middle I think that an extra key frame or two? before the big ball bounces away might help? and it would be nice to pan out the last scene so we see the tail colapse in the collision. I would not worry if this is what Alonso had in mind. He seems to like to leave exe. open for creativeness and I really like what you have done. This is more inline with the ultra aniamation camp and is better suited for a demo reel which is GREAT! I would keep this up if I were you

Welcome to the animation game.

I like the new movement style. The main point of the ball with tail excercise is to work on overlap and follow through, so your tail is getting that so your meeting the point When the tan ball is hit, it looks off because it flies away so fast, which doesn't match the speed of the swimmy ball. The squash on it's good, but the overall movement isn't consistant with the outside forces. The tan balls bounce is very good, but a little constrained at the top of the arcs because it comes back down so fast, try putting some ease up there. It's good that you anticipate the start of movement for swimmy, but then that antic doesn't match up with the ease into movement (which is also good) you've got going, in other words you're applying principles correctly but they need to interact better.

The tail is of a consistent stiffness, I suspect the swimming movement is a cycled action, but when it hits the gray ball it maintains it's established stiffness, which is good. Try doing something with a looser more flowy follow through also (just to make sure you gain those skills).

Looking good so far

-Alonso

Thanks for the input, here is another pass...
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I like the added ending with the rolling but IMHO the roll can be improved two things there is no sqash or stretch and seeing you are showing these object as stretchable in the collision it should have some impact affects to the rolling. Not as much and maybe getting less with each roll. Now the roll itself also needs some work. It's too circular and IMHO should be stretching out in the direction of movement. Make the roll arch but decrease the arch with each roll to show loss of momentum. Good work I feel funny critique your work I feel you are more skilled than me but I am trying to return the help others have shown me.

Thanks Mark, your right about the squash and stretch (squetch? ), I'm adding that to the roll. I don't really want any loss of momentum at this point, this is more cartoony than realistic and I need it to still have the momentum for the next thing it takes part in.

[[/quote]
Thanks Mark, your right about the squash and stretch (squetch? ), I'm adding that to the roll. I don't really want any loss of momentum at this point, this is more cartoony than realistic and I need it to still have the momentum for the next thing it takes part in. [/quote]

I can't wait to see

Your last way of locomotion is very fun, and technically challenging. I think you need more physical realism in the contact actions. I look forward to see more.

Michel

If you want to pump up the cartoonyness try holding the compression frame when it hits the black ball, so compress just as fast, but hold it a few frames longer, then explode to a bit a ways from it (no inbetweens)

The rolling is cute, but when the ball is on the top of the arc it's dropping instead of following an arc. I agree with Michel that you need more reaction in the tail when the different pieces are hitting the ground in the rolling action.

-Alonso

Thanks Alonso, I hope to work on it some more this weekend. Life keeps getting in the way of art.

Richard

Here are 2 new takes on the tail ball rebound action, one spinning, one bouncing...


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The bouncing on the rolling looks better. I think the tail is spinning to fast. It should basicly be pointed down into the ball when the ball is hitting (basicly strung along from where the ball came from: uppish) and then the impact of the hit slams it down around the front, and then it gets yanked behind as the ball bounces up and forward again.

That bouncing ball is very close. Try putting 1 or 2 frames more in the down, it's kind of popping right now because it goes straight from up to squished, you could let it start going down more in between. On the up I think purple joint curls one frame to late, I would delay the red joint until after purple then snap it around on the next frame. Push the tail swinging up 1 frame later (letting the ball start falling first) you could unwrap it more (more joint by joint work) Good work though, it's really starting to come through.

-Alonso

Another pass with your suggestions...

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Thanks for the input,
Richard

Mr. Ball takes a walk...

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And he runs...

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The tail looks better. Good overlap in the upward swing, try putting that in the down at the across the contact frames. I don't usually recomend this, but this bounce is so fast with so much action in the tail, try rendering it with a slight motion blur (no more than 15% maybe as low as 4%) to help us read what's happening more.

The ball looks perfect. The tail is improved. I kind of want to see even more unroll on the tail as it slaps into the ground (maybe that's just personal opinion though) Try plopping your relaxed hand down on the table with your palm up, the way your fingers unroll as the contact with the table pushes the downward momentum further up the joints. Good improvements. Have you tried slowing it down some just to see what that does?

The walk is strong. I see the rocking back and forth. The contact leg isn't straight at contact, if you work on extending the back leg through the push off, and having the contact leg straight (and then bending once the weight transfers to it) then you would have the up and down your missing. I like the flick in the toe, but just be aware that you won't always want it that obvious. It looks like there is a slight slide on the feet at the push off, but it's really hard to make cycle's without, so I wouldn't fight it for this excercise.

The run is very nice also. I think you have the landing relationship of foot to body correct, but I think the leg should be straight, and then go into the down. So front leg goes out to straight, then swings down straight, until the knee bends to cushion the weight of the body it's catching. Otherwise the run looks good for this character. You might experiment with covering more distance in the moment of suspension, but that would be a different run, and I think this cartoon run works fine.

Good work.

-Alonso

Another walk and run pass...
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The run is based on the "cartoon" run from Richard Williams' book, pg. 177.

Richard

Hi Richard

Nice clips. The walk looks really good except i think the body is going up too soon after the contact frame.
In the run clip, the movement looks good but he looks like he is not moving fast enough along the path according to the strenght of the run. Strong work.

Michel

I think he probably has the stride lenght right but because of the long stretch hold (which I like ) you might want to stretch teh stride length slightly to show the character gliding during the stretch

Thanks to everyone for your constructive comments, you've made me better already.

Keep watching for future episodes...

Mr. Ball with some interaction...
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Hi Richard,

Cute little animation. Nice movement on Mr. Ball. The only comment I have is his hop maybe could be a little bit faster. At the very end it is a little bit floaty, just a touch. Overall looks pretty good!

Paula

HI richard,

the tempo lools very good, however, one major element of the classic walk that seems to be missing from Ball_walk 3 is the compression or squash pose after the foot plant. The body is rebounding the instant the heel contacts the ground. Too soon.

I think the absence of that is giving a weightless feel to the walk.

Ball walk 3 looks really strong. (I always appreciate a cartoony snap in the toe as it flings forward )

Robcat's point about the weight is true on the run as well, try putting in some more up (from pushing off the ground) and then down onto a straight leg that buckles into a bent leg (when the weight comes down again) right now your up and down is only happening in squetch on the ball. The feet and legs look nice though. But you are getting a slide on the ground, (the problems of cycles and stride length bleh) Just for variety maybe you should try a different tempo run, something slow with a lot of air time.

Good timing on the kicking one, the kick anticipates well and there's good time to register the broken toe before the hopping happens, well done. That one's fun Good job putting the weight of the ball over the supporting hopping foot also (I think you could push this even further though, I didn't see it at first and had to go back and look carefully, don't be afraid of the strong diagonal you're gonna get) Good thinking in the ball. The side to side looking is pretty good, but he leans so far over it seemed unnatural, to lean so far over he would probably widen his support leg first (could be a nice little extra flourish if you put that in before each step (course it's more work: shift the weight up and over the support leg, move the other leg to the new position, shift the weight back to the middle and then down and across and over to the new support) but it'll look good)

Fine work. Break out a humanoid.

-Alonso

Humanoid walk cycle using the TWO Scarecrow. This is a double bounce walk based on one in Preston Blair's Cartoon Animation book. Seems to suit the Scarecrow.

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Richard

That's a pretty groovy Mr. Scarecrow! I can almost hear him whistling as he walks. I don't really know enough about the double bounce to critique it technically, but it looks pretty good to me. You're right, it definitely suites him. The secondary action on the hat is good too.

Paula

Great tempo on the walk Richard! Nice Squashing and Stretching too. You've just got some leg snapping (try the best you can to remedy this, it's just something (annoying) that happens in CGI) I also noticed he's slip-slidin' at the end, are you using stride length or is this manually animated across the screen plane? Fantastic job, you've got some great personality in him!

Thanks. The secondary action on the hat is part of the rig using dynamics. I did have to adjust the rigidity of the brim, before I stiffened it, his head was going through it.



Thanks for the feedback Pixar, it is using stride length. I keep adjusting it and he keeps sliding a little.
Does anyone know of a good tutorial on setting stride length? It sure would be nice if someone that had mastered it would share their secrets.

Richard

Hi Richard!

Beautiful lively walk cycle. I like what you did with his arms, good overlapping. There is not that much foot sliding, i am not an expert on walk cycles but i think you need a perfectly straight line in the z channel for the feet from contact to leaving the ground, it solves more problems than tweaking the actual lenght of the stride. My 2 cents.

Michel

Thanks, I'll look at that.

Richard

Hey Richard
Just dropping in to see your bootcamp
Witch i think looks very good
Specially mr scarecrow.
He really looks relaxed and happy,
the only thing i have to comment are his shoulders and hips,
they look kinda static.
They need a little bit more contrast or something.

I'll bet you have seem them before. But these pics will make more sense than my words.

Don't know maybe its the line of action
I think somebody walking like that would put out his chest more
But never the less it still looks nice and convincing
Nice work


Come give some comments to my bootcamp
Bertmac's bootcamp I probably will give some on yours

I've found that stride length in the end is a real bear. You have to be so perfectly steady the whole time, and who walks like that?! Also I've been watching some old Disney stuff, hand drawn animator's feet slide all over the place!!! Closest I've been able to nail stride length is to drop some plane or something under the feet and animate it going past, and then use that to key my feet, then make sure the z channel is one smooth linear line, then set the stride length.

Man that would give me such a headache to walk like that Double walk looks good, only real thing to point out is that your first frame and your last frame of the cycle aren't matching so that's why you're getting that pop in the arm and leg. Easiest solution, copy paste. If you animated 1-30 copy thirty, paste it at 1, then set cycle length to 1-29. (If you cycle length 1-30 then there'll be a very slight slow down when the 2 identical frames play right after each other (frame 1 and frame 30))

Let's see a unique Richard walk now, skip the walk cycle animate it straight, walking in from off screen to center screen maybe. Oh and zoom in some so he fills the screen better. Good work.

-Alonso